Let’s recap Week 11, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 15 Texas A&M at No. 1 Alabama

Final score: Aggies 29, Tide 24

Pregame rant: Texas A&M has won seven of its last eight games since losing its opener. The Aggies’ two conference losses are to Florida and LSU.

Those defeats aside,  Texas A&M has made a better adjustment to SEC football than Missouri has. So the Aggies will be ready Saturday. The question is will that matter against the Tide?

Alabama is No. 1 nationally in scoring defense (9.11 points allowed a game), but LSU exposed that D a little bit. The  Aggies are fourth in the nation in scoring offense (44.67 points a game).

If freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel is on his game, the Tide will have their hands full. One of the most exciting players in college football, Manziel has 2,527 yards passing, 922 yards rushing and 31 total touchdowns (16 passing, 15 rushing).

Post-game commentary: Johnny Football was on his game as was his teammates.

As a result, No. 1 is no more for Alabama.

Manziel threw for 253 yards and two scores, ran for a game-high 92 yards more and was the difference Texas A&M stunning the defending national champions.

The Crimson Tide can still play for an SEC title if they take care of rival Auburn at home in two weeks. With the Tigers being 2-8 and coming off an embarrassing 38-0 home loss to rival Georgia, the Tide shoudn’t have a problem with them.

If somehow ‘Bama  blows that game and Texas A&M gets in that conference championship game, the Dawgs will have their hands full.

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Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 11.

Game of the week: No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies (7-2, 4-2 SEC) at No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (9-0, 6-0 SEC), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WSEE (CBS)

Pregame rant: Texas A&M has won seven of its last eight games since losing its opener. The Aggies’ two conference losses are to Florida and LSU.

Those defeats aside,  Texas A&M has made a better adjustment to SEC football than Missouri has. So the Aggies will be ready Saturday. The question is will that matter against the Tide?

Alabama is No. 1 nationally in scoring defense (9.11 points allowed a game), but LSU exposed that D a little bit. The  Aggies are fourth in the nation in scoring offense (44.67 points a game).

If freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel is on his game, the Tide will have their hands full. One of the most exciting players in college football, Manziel has 2,527 yards passing, 922 yards rushing and 31 total touchdowns (16 passing, 15 rushing).

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Let us recap Week 1, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 24 Boise State Broncos at No. 13 Michigan State Spartans

Final score: Spartans 17, Broncos 13.

Pregame rant: Since stunning Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, the Broncos have been giant killers. They’ve recently had signature victories against Texas Christian (2010 Fiesta Bowl), Virginia Tech (2010 opener) and Georgia (2011 opener).

What do all four of those wins have in common? They were on a neutral field.  With quarterback Kellen Moore now gone, can’t wait to see how Boise State does in East Lansing against the Spartans, who were 7-0 at home last season.

Post-game commentary: This game shows just how important a quarterback is to a mid-major. Last season, Moore wins that game for the Broncos. Junior Joe Southwick was just 15-of-31 for 169 yards, no touchdowns and an interception.

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The college football season is here.

So you already know the deal. Let’s get to predicting, shall we?

These games are worth watching:

No. 24 Boise State at No. 13 Michigan State (Friday, 8 p.m., ESPN).

Pregame rant: Since stunning Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, the Broncos have been giant killers. They’ve recently had signature victories against Texas Christian (2010 Fiesta Bowl), Virginia Tech (2010 opener) and Georgia (2011 opener).

What do all four of those wins have in common? They were on a neutral field.

The Georgia win was in Atlanta, but that game might have had a different outcome had it been played between the hedges in Athens. With quarterback Kellen Moore now gone, can’t wait to see how Boise State does in East Lansing against the Spartans, who were 7-0 at home last season.

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Penn State has the task of slowing down Houston senior quarterback Case Keenum./AP Photo.

What a way to start the work week in 2012.

Watch six bowl games from noon till midnight.

Don’t lose your job over it, but just take an extended lunch or dinner break to check out some really good bowl matchups.

Ticketcity Bowl (Dallas, Texas) – No. 20 Houston (12-1, 8-0 C-USA) vs. No. 24 Penn State (9-3, 6-2 Big Ten), noon, ESPNU.

The Big ?: Can Penn State’s 10th ranked defense, which allows 300.92 yards a game, slow down the nation’s top offense? Houston is averaging 599 a game.

My pick: Houston. Although the Cougars didn’t even win their conference title game, that’s far less to overcome than what the Nittany Lions have dealt this season. The Jerry Sandusky situation has changed everything at Penn State.

Outback Bowl (Tampa, Fla.) – No. 12 Michigan State (10-3, 7-1 Big Ten) vs. No. 18 Georgia (10-3, 7-1 SEC). 1 p.m., ABC.

The Big ?: Whenever an Big Ten teams plays an SEC team, the same question surfaces. Can the Big Ten school match the speed of the SEC school?

My pick: Georgia. Speed rules.

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Let us recap Week 13, shall we?

No. 23 Penn State (9-3, 6-2 Big Ten) at No. 15 Wisconsin (10-2, 6-2 Big Ten)

Pregame rant: Now the NCAA is getting involved in the whole Penn State situation surrounding former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Playing a game of football has been the best way for Penn State’s players to deal with what’s going on. The Nittany Lions will have to play one of their best games of the season to defeat Wisconsin. The question is can Penn State, which is ranked 106th in scoring offense (20.9 ppg.) score enough points to win?

Postgame commentary: The Nittany Lions couldn’t muster enough points nor stop Wisconsin in their 45-7 loss to the Badgers. Montee Ball ran for 156 yards and four touchdowns. The win puts Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game. As for the Nittany Lions, the focus will remain on the actions off the field. Sad story on a variety of levels.

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Let us recap Week 11, shall we?

No. 17 Nebraska (8-2,4-2 Big Ten) at No. 21 Penn State (8-2, 5-1 Big Ten)

Pregame rant: The game is almost an afterthought. Penn State no longer has its head coach – Joe Paterno – or its president. The school’s board of trustees fired Paterno following former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, being indicted on charges of sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years. The backlash of that helped lead to Paterno being shown the door in his 46th season as head coach. Now the Nittany Lions must go out and play their final home game in an emotional state against a team coming off an embarrassing home loss to Northwestern. Should be a wild one.

Postgame commentary: Just a sad, yet engaging scene. In the end, Nebraska hung on to win 17-14, but the continual fallout for Penn State is growing like wild bushes. How all this ends is anybody’s guess.

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Mike McQueary./AP Photo

Penn State released a statement tonight regarding assistant Mike McQueary, who testified he saw former Penn State assistant Jerry Sandusky engaged in a sex act with a 10-year-old boy in 2002.

“Due to multiple threats made against Assistant Coach Mike McQueary, the University has decided it would be in the best interest of all for Assistant Coach McQueary not to be in attendance at Saturday’s Nebraska game.”

Penn State (8-1) plays Nebraska on Saturday at Beaver Stadium.

McQueary, who was a 28-year old graduate assistant at the time, told Paterno about the incident. Paterno relayed the message to athletic director Tim Curley.

With Sandusky recently being indicted on charges of sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years, Penn State fired Paterno and university president Graham Spanier on Wednesday.

McQueary has been under growing scrutiny regarding this situation, thus leading Penn State to decide it was best for him not to coach Saturday.

This came after Penn State interim coach Tom Bradley said earlier today that McQueary was going to coach, but didn’t know from where that would be.

– Duane Rankin

Drew Astorino

Today, Penn State senior safety Drew Astorino, an General McLane graduate, had a media conference call and talked about Joe Paterno resigning today.

Paterno had a team meeting with the players at 11 a.m. today to tell them he’s resigning at the end of the season.

“He just told us he put in a letter of resignation,” Astorino said. “He thinks that would be best for Penn State, best for his family and best for everybody else. He doesn’t want to put Penn State or anyone else through a war, fight or media war against anybody. He said he’s (been there) for Penn State more than anything for the past 61 years and he’s just always wants us to remember that this team will always  be a team and always be together. Not just for the next so many games. Not just next year. We’ll be a team for the rest of our lives and he wants us to never forget that.”

This comes on the heels of former Penn State assistant Jerry Sandusky having been indicted on charges of sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years.

Coming out of the meeting, Astorino also said he got the impression Paterno is going to coach the rest of the season. The Nittany Lions (8-1) play their final home game of the 2011 season Saturday against Nebraska.

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